A Grip on Sports: The weekend is already off to a fast start, and you better be ready before noon to watch a key college hoops contest

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Let’s see. What should we type words about this morning? The local college basketball scene, of course. It is Feb. 20. And something we neglected yesterday, examining the weekend from a sports-on-TV perspective.

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• Show of hands. How many of you think the University of San Diego will win tonight’s game in the Kennel? Before you answer, realize the top-ranked Zags, 21-0 this season, are a (checks notes) 32-point favorite. We’re guessing, sometime about 6:45, that number will be really important to ESPN2’s viewers. And you in the back? The person with your hand up? You’re just being a contrarian, right?

We’re also guessing if there wasn’t a shot clock, the Toreros would be sitting on the ball. But that’s not possible in this day and age. Thankfully.

We once covered a college basketball game in which both teams were still in single digits at halftime, and one team (cough, UC Irvine) spent much of the half dribbling the ball at near halfcourt while the other (Long Beach State, with Ted Winter as the head coach) sat in 1-2-2 zone. My guess was Winter, the architect of Michael Jordan’s favorite offense, was making a point about the need for a shot clock in college hoops. But we digress, as always.

Back to today’s action.

The best, as in most-competitive, game should occur in Missoula. The Griz will be out to avenge the worst loss in the Travis DeCuire era when they host Eastern Washington at 11 a.m. our time. (You can watch on SWX.) These two programs have, along with Weber State, risen to the top of the Big Sky the past decade, creating a trio that fights for the lone NCAA berth. This may just be the Eagles year.

The matchup with Stanford this afternoon (on ESPN2) will be much tougher for Washington State than Thursday’s rout of California. But that doesn’t mean the Cougars can’t sweep the weekend. Not only have the Cardinal been up and down this season, WSU only needs another 32-point performance from Noah Williams to get over the hump. Just kidding. No one expects Williams to reach those heights again. Not even his dad.

• We have already passed along the TV networks carrying the local games – if you want to follow Idaho or Whitworth or even the Zag women, you have to rely on radio and/or a computer-generated feed – which fills in a gap in our usual weekend report.

On most Fridays we focus on what’s ahead. Yesterday, we just plain forgot. We were so excited about Thursday night’s success around these parts, looking forward just slipped our mind. But, hey, when we walked to the mailbox yesterday we still remembered where we keep the key. Sure, we forgot to put on pants but …

Anyhow, there aren’t a lot of knock-your-pants-off college hoops games this weekend. Sure, Virginia, the defending national champions, travels to Duke but the Blue Devils aren’t a national title contender. Except, if they win today, they will probably end up making the tournament again. And tomorrow, third-ranked Michigan heads to fourth-ranked Ohio State for a 10 a.m. showdown that will ensure the winner the No. 3 seed behind Gonzaga and Baylor. That’s not as important, however, as bragging rights in one of college sports’ best rivalries.

What else?

Well, golf continues its West Coast swing. This weekend’s stop is Rivera, one of my favorite courses and where Kent and I watched Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino play back in high school. And, if I remember correctly, Trevino tossed Kent a ball coming off the sixth green.

Naomi Osaka already won the Australian Open women’s title over American Jen Brady, so that’s not an option anymore. You’ll have to stay up until after midnight to watch the men’s final, which pits Daniil Medvedev against Novak Djokovic. Not to sound too xenophobic, but we miss the days when, you know, American men actually had a chance. Still, if Djokovic wins, he’ll inch closer to the top of the Grand Slam ladder. And if Medvedev wins? He’ll be ranked second in the world.

That’s actually important. It will mark the first time since July of 2005 that the top two hasn’t been the exclusive company of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer or Andy Murray. More than 15 years of four guys – three really, as Murray was more of a comet – dominating the top of the rankings.

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Gonzaga: As we mentioned above, San Diego is in town. Jim Meehan has a preview and the key matchup. … Jim also has a story on Mark Few once again making the final 15 for the Naismith Coach of the Year award. … Coming off a loss at BYU, the Zag women are right back at it against a WCC contender, facing San Diego in California today. Jim Allen has a preview. … In their baseball opener, the Bulldogs won in Arizona. … Larry Weir and I spoke yesterday. We covered GU basketball and more. It’s all in the latest Press Box podcast. … Elsewhere in the WCC, the rest of the schedule is uncharted territory for BYU. … The Cougar women needed the win over Gonzaga.

WSU: Williams scored a lot of points Thursday night. But still doesn’t hold the family record vis-à-vis Washington State basketball. That belongs to father Guy, with 43. Theo Lawson talked with both for this story, which we also linked above. … The women are struggling collectively though Charlisse Leger-Walker continues to shine. They lost to Colorado on Friday. … Luke Falk is back in football, signing a contract in the Canadian Football League. Theo has more in this story. … Around the Pac-12 and college basketball, the gap by every measure between the conference and the others in the Big Five continues to grow. … Oregon State is getting offensive contributions from new faces. Next up is Colorado. … Utah has a reinforcement coming back from overseas, just not for today. … Pitting USC and Oregon in a makeup game Monday night is all about maximizing NCAA opportunities. … UCLA is already in the win-and-move-on portion of its season. … Former Santa Clara standout Tahj Eaddy is standing out at USC as well. … If USC defeats Arizona, will that be the last blow for Sean Miller? Nope. He seems charmed. … Oregon’s women had one last chance to make a statement. They did. It was a bad statement as they were blown out at UCLA. … In football news, UCLA filled an opening on its staff.

Idaho: There will be 3,100 fans allowed in the Kibbie Dome for football games this spring. Peter Harriman explains the parameters in this piece. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Weber State is looking forward to the spring football season. … Northern Colorado is looking forward to its fall season.

Whitworth: Pacific Lutheran shut down the Pirates last night, handing Whitworth an 84-59 defeat.

Preps: The Idaho girls’ State tournaments will finish up today. Dave Nichols has a roundup of Friday’s results.

Hoopfest: With its usual AAU winter league coronavirused-out, Hoopfest is going to hold an outdoor league soon to fill the gap. Adam Shanks has the story.

Mariners: Ken Giles is an example of the M’s investing in the future. Yep, 2022 is going to be their year. Put it down in Sharpie. … Chris Flexen is the mystery man among the starters.

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• Talking about the Zags’ defense this week, Few described this year’s team, as quoted in Jim’s story: “We don’t have great rim protection. We don’t have big, athletic guys to jump up and protect the rim like we did with Brandon Clarke, Zach Collins, Przemek Karnowski and Johnathan Williams …” OK, I understand what Few was saying, but only three of those guys were big and athletic. One was just big. And he didn’t have to jump to protect the rim. Until later …